A conventional method of sterilization of low acid foods involves heat sufficient to penetrate through the package to the slowest heating point or cold spot of the packaged food product. Once the cold spot of the package reaches the target for a prescribe length of time, sterility is achieved. Heat sufficient for penetration is delivered using but not limited to a retort process which produces and contains steam saturated air, steam water spray, steam and hot water immersion. Some disadvantages of the retort food sterilization process results in high heat exposure to product at the product package interface, and lower heat expose at the cold spot of the package, therefore creating a non-uniformity of heat distribution which prevents sterilization of heterogeneous mixtures and foods having large particles. With conventional heating, the larger the particle, the more time is required to heat its center to the sterilization temperature. Because of this disadvantage, the complete thermal processing (sterilization) of all of the particles in a food which include large particles, small particles, heterogeneous material, and homogenous materials is not present.
While much effort has been made to produce a food composition that is aseptically sterilized, the need still remains for a food composition containing large particles, small particles, heterogeneous materials, and homogeneous materials that is sterilized by a rapid and immediate product heating that heats from the inside-out, while still preserving food properties.
Ohmic heating is a food processing method in which an alternating electrical current is passed through a food sample. This results in heat generation to a food ample. The process utilizes different physical properties of a composition or particles to uniformly heat the composition or particle. This results in internal energy generation in foods. Ohmic heating reduces heat exposure by dramatically reducing the time it takes to bring a food product up to sterilization temperature. In addition to heating rapidly, ohmic heating heats particles large or small as quickly as fluids provided they have similar electro-conductivity properties. In some cases, particles heat even more rapidly. Ohmic heating allows more even heating of the entire system and the opportunity to formulate products with larger particles.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a food composition prepared by a method of sterilization, preferably ohmic heating, in which all of the solid food pieces in the food composition including large particles, small particles, particulates, heterogeneous material, and homogenous material as well as filler are commercially sterilized.